Brexit Party Chairman Richard Tice sued SNP MEP Alyn Smith for calling the party “a money laundering front” on live television. Smith put up a bit of a noisy fight at first. His initial defiance waned quickly…

Smith then tried to get away with just issuing a ‘correction of the record’ which he hoped would be enough to make the problem go away. That was not accepted by Tice. Carole Cadwalladr and all the Remainiacs on Twitter making unfounded allegations should take note…

Full grovelling apology here:

“On 27 May 2019 I was interviewed by Sky News. In that interview I stated in the context of political donations that the Brexit Party is a “shell company that’s a money laundering front.” Its Chairman, Richard Tice, is concerned by implication this allegation related to him, although that was not my intention. Having reflected upon this following a complaint from Mr Tice, I apologise unreservedly to him and withdraw my allegation. I am happy to state clearly that I do not have any evidence to support such an allegation. I spoke in the heat of the moment and I am happy to set the record straight. I have agreed to pay a sum in damages to the Help for Heroes charity and I have agreed to pay legal costs.”

This follows on from Katie Razzal issuing an on-air Newsnight apology to Tice…

UPDATE: We have as yet not received an answer from Alyn Smith to a question we posed to him:

“Can you confirm that your donation to charity will be coming out of your own pocket and you won’t be expensing taxpayers for your foolishness or legal costs?”

We asked this after Dan Hannan pointed out that a LibDem MEP paid out in a libel case using parliamentary expenses…